Abnormal PsychologyA.K.A. Psychological Disorders

When behavior is deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional (and dangerous) psychiatrists and

psychologists label it as disordered (Comer, 2004).

1.Deviant -- goes against the norm of behavior (may be abnormal in one culture, but normal in another)

2.Distressful – cause the person (or others) distress…it disturbs them

3.Dysfunctional – must cause dysfunction in the person’s life (alter daily life)

4.Dangerous – cause harm to self or others

Early Theories

• Abnormal behavior was evil spirits trying to get out.

• Trephining was often used.

Medical Perspective

• Philippe Pinel (1745-1826) from France, insisted that madness was not due to demonic possession but an ailment (illness) of the mind.

1.Etiology: Causation and development of

the disorder.

2.Diagnosis: Identifying (symptoms) and

distinguishing one disease from another.

3.Treatment: Treating a disorder in a

psychiatric hospital.

4.Prognosis: Forecast about the disorder.

The Medical Model

When physicians discovered that syphilis led to mental

disorders, the medical model started looking at physical

causes of these disorders.

Assumes that biological, socio-cultural, and

psychological factors combine and interact to

produce psychological disorders.

Perspectives and Disorders● Psychoanalytic – believes that psychological disorders stem from

unresolved childhood conflicts

oTo understand roots of disorder, must look at person’s early

life history

● Behavioral – believes that behaviors are learned responses

oTo understand disorder, must analyze how behavior has been

learned and what “reinforces” the continuation of the behavior

Cognitive – believes that cognitions (thoughts and beliefs) are the

root of psychological problems

oOnly way to “fix” behavior is to change those thoughts and

beliefs

●Humanistic – believes that people are responsible

for their own behavior, even abnormal behavioroFocus on the relationship between individual and society

and how people view themselves in relation to others –

believe disordered individuals don’t have self-worth, have

conditions of worth placed upon them, etc.

●Sociocultural – believes that abnormal behavior is shaped

by family, society and cultureo One’s relationships with others can support and even cause abnormal

behaviors – the stresses that one encounters in life can influence the disorders

they have/don’t have

DSM IV• Diagnostic

Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: the big book of disorders.

• DSM will classify disorders and describe the symptoms.

• DSM will NOT explain the causes or possible cures.

John Wayne Gacy

Are Psychosocial or Environmental Problems

(school or housing issues) also present?Axis IV

What is the Global Assessment of the person’s

functioning?Axis V

Is a General Medical Condition (diabetes,

hypertension or arthritis etc) also present?Axis III

Is a Personality Disorder or Mental Retardation

present?Axis II

Is a Clinical Syndrome (cognitive, anxiety,

mood disorders [16 syndromes]) present?Axis I

1.Critics of the DSM-IV-TR argue that labels can stigmatize individuals by assigning arbitrary conditions and value judgments

Asylum baseball team (labeling)

Rosenhan's experiment on the impact of labels of

people in a psychiatric

hospital

Anxiety Disorders• a group of conditions

where the primary symptoms are anxiety or defenses against anxiety.

• the patient fears something awful will happen to them.

• They are in a state of intense apprehension, uneasiness, uncertainty, or fear.

Generalized Anxiety DisorderGAD

• An anxiety disorder in which a person is continuously tense, apprehensive and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.

• The patient is constantly tense and worried, feels inadequate, is oversensitive, can’t concentrate and suffers from insomnia.

Phobias• A person experiences

sudden episodes of intense dread.

• Must be an irrational fear.

• Phobia List

Panic Disorder

• An anxiety disorder marked by a minutes-long episode of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking and other frightening sensations.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

• Persistent unwanted thoughts (obsessions) cause someone to feel the need (compulsion) to engage in a particular action.

• Obsession about dirt and germs may lead to compulsive hand washing.

Post-traumatic Stress Disordera.k.a. PTSD

• Flashbacks or nightmares following a person’s involvement in or observation of an extremely stressful event.

• Memories of the even cause anxiety.

Somatoform Disorders

• Occur when a person manifests a psychological problem through a physiological symptom.

• Two types……

Hypochondriasis

• Has frequent physical complaints for which medical doctors are unable to locate the cause.

• They usually believe that the minor issues (headache, upset stomach) are indicative are more severe illnesses.

Conversion Disorder• Report the

existence of severe physical problems with no biological reason.

• Like blindness or paralysis.

Pol Pot

Dissociative Disorders

• These disorders involve a disruption in the conscious process.

• Three types….

Psychogenic Amnesia

• A person cannot remember things with no physiological basis for the disruption in memory.

• Retrograde Amnesia• NOT organic amnesia.• Organic amnesia can

be retrograde or antrograde.

Dissociative Fugue

• People with psychogenic amnesia that find themselves in an unfamiliar environment.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

• Used to be known as Multiple Personality Disorder.

• A person has several rather than one integrated personality.

• People with DID commonly have a history of childhood abuse or trauma.

Mood Disorders• Experience extreme or inappropriate

emotion.

Major Depression

• A.K.A. unipolar depression

• Unhappy for at least two weeks with no apparent cause.

• Depression is the common cold of psychological disorders.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

• Experience depression during the winter months.

• Based not on temperature, but on amount of sunlight.

• Treated with light therapy.

Bipolar Disorder

• Formally manic depression.

• Involves periods of depression and manic episodes.

• Manic episodes involve feelings of high energy (but they tend to differ a lot…some get confident and some get irritable).

• Engage in risky behavior during the manic episode.

Personality Disorders

• Well-established, maladaptive ways of behaving that negatively affect people’s ability to function.

• Dominates their personality.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

• Lack of empathy.• Little regard for

other’s feelings.• View the world as

hostile and look out for themselves.

Dependent Personality Disorder

• Rely too much on the attention and help of others.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

• Needs to be the center of attention.

• Whether acting silly or dressing provocatively.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

• Having an unwarranted sense of self-importance.

• Thinking that you are the center of the universe.

Obsessive –Compulsive Personality Disorder

• Overly concerned with certain thoughts and performing certain behaviors.

• Not as extreme as OCD anxiety.

Schizophrenic Disorders

• About 1 in every 100 people are diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Symptoms of Schizophrenia

1.Disorganized thinking.

2.Disturbed Perceptions3.Inappropriate

Emotions and Actions

Disorganized Thinking

• The thinking of a person with Schizophrenia is fragmented and bizarre and distorted with false beliefs.

• Disorganized thinking comes from a breakdown in selective attention.- they cannot filter out information.

Delusions (false beliefs)

• Delusions of Persecution

• Delusions of Grandeur

Disturbed Perceptions

• hallucinations- sensory experiences without sensory stimulation.

Inappropriate Emotions and Actions

• Laugh at inappropriate times.

• Flat Effect • Senseless,

compulsive acts.• Catatonia-

motionless Waxy Flexibility

Positive v. Negative Symptoms

Positive Symptoms•Presence of inappropriate symptoms

Negative Symptoms•Absence of appropriate ones.

Types of Schizophrenia

Disorganized Schizophrenia

• disorganized speech or behavior, or flat or inappropriate emotion.

• Clang associations • "Imagine the worst

Systematic, sympatheticQuite pathetic, apologetic, paramedicYour heart is prosthetic"

Paranoid Schizophrenia

• preoccupation with delusions or hallucinations.

• Somebody is out to get me!!!!

Catatonic Schizophrenia

• Flat effect• Waxy Flexibility• parrot like

repeating of another’s speech and movements

Undifferentiated Schizophrenia

• Many and varied Symptoms.

Other Disorders

• Paraphilias (pedophilia, zoophilia, hybristophilia)

• Fetishism • sadist, masochist• Eating Disorders• Substance use

disorders• ADHD

The Rosenhan Study• Rosenhan’s associates

were Malingering symptoms of hearing voices.

• They were ALL admitted for schizophrenia.

• None were exposed as imposters.

• They all left diagnosed with schizophrenia in remission.

• What are some of the questions raised by this study?

Therapy

• It used to be that if someone exhibited abnormal behavior, they were institutionalized.

• Because of new drugs and better therapy, the U.S. went to a policy of deinstitutionalization.

Psychoanalytic Therapy

• Psychoanalysis (manifest and latent content through…. hypnosis free association, dream, interpretation).

• Unconscious• Transference• Other therapies will

result in symptom substitution.

Humanistic Therapy• Client-Centered

Therapy by Carl Rogers• These are non-directive

therapies and use active listening.

• Self-actualization, free-will and unconditional positive regard.

• Gestalt Therapy by Fritz Perls encourage clients to get in touch with whole self.

Behavioral Therapies

Counterconditioning• Classical

Conditioning1.Aversive Conditioning2.Systematic

desensitization3.FloodingOperant Conditioning• Token Economy

Cognitive Therapy

• Change the way we view the world (change our schemas)

• Aaron Beck• Albert Ellis and

Rational Emotive Therapy

Somatic Therapies

Psychopharmacology• Antipsychotics

(thorazine, haldol)• Anti-anxiety (valium,

barbiturates, Xanax)• Mood Disorders

(serotonin reuptake inhibitors)

• Bipolar (lithium)

Somatic Therapy

• Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)- for depression.

• Psychosurgury1.Prefontal lobotomy

Group Therapy